ss, who invented the Cherokee alphabet, was the
grandson of a white man. This invention, however, was a very remarkable
achievement, and it is worthy of a word here. Sequoia was altogether
illiterate. He could neither write nor speak English, but he saw that
the whites could talk with each other by means of pieces of paper. So
he set himself to work to examine his own language. He found that sixty
monosyllables could be so combined as to represent every word in
the Cherokee language, and for each of these syllables he formed a
character. Many of these characters were taken from an English spelling
book which he managed to get hold of. Some are Greek characters, and
others are letters of the English alphabet turned upside down; but
each character in the Cherokee alphabet stands for a monosyllable. It
happened, too, from the structure of the Cherokee language or dialect,
that the syllabic alphabet is also in the nature of a grammar; so that
those who know the language by ear, and master the alphabet, can at once
read and write. Owing to the extreme simplicity of this system, it can
be acquired in a few days. Some have learned it even in one day. Thus
it happened that the Cherokees, who were at the beginning of one year
ignorant and illiterate, had become in the course of a few months able
to read and write their own language. They accomplished this without
going to school, and without expense of time or money.

This curious and useful invention is dwelt on here because it stands
alone. The Indian grandson of a white man remains to-day the only man,
in the long history of the aborigines, who has done anything for the
real and lasting benefit of his race.

When the people of Georgia insisted on the removal of that nation to the
Far West, the Cherokees were neither better nor worse than the rest of
the Indians. Some of the half-breeds had indeed begun to put on the airs
of civilization, and many of them had put off their barbarian garbs; but
from time to time they gave evidence that contact with the whites had
only whetted their savage appetites for cruelty. The Indian in Cooper's
novels and the Indian in real life are two different creatures. They
were tall and straight because they refused to do manual labor. The
drudgery was left to the women, who hoed the corn when at home, and
carried the burdens when the warriors were moving about. They cultivated
the passion of revenge. Those who know them best have declared in
a tho